Chennai Super Kings (CSK) finally got back to the winning track, after two successive defeats, as they Sunrisers Hyderabad by 20 runs at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The win helped Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in keeping their hopes of making the knockout stages of the tournament alive. Known for their record of making it to the playoffs every year, CSK now stand sixth in the IPL 2020 points table.

Batting first, the three times champions posted a commendable total of 167/6 on the board. Disciplined and economical bowling then helped CSK register their third win of the season in eight matches.

Dwayne Bravo (2/25), Shardul Thakur (1/10) and Karn Sharma (2/37) were the star bowlers for Chennai, before Shane Watson (42 off 38 balls), Ambati Rayudu (41 off 34) and Sam Curran (31 off 21) had contributed with the bat.

Chasing the target, SRH suffered a top-order collapse as their opener-cum-skipper David Warner (9), Manish Pandey (4) and Jonny Bairstow (23) were back in the hut with just 59 runs on board.

Kane Williamson (57) took control of the proceedings however, the Kiwi skipper lacked support as wickets kept on tumbling from the other end.

Karn Sharma came with a much needed breakthrough in the 18th over, applying brakes on Williamson’s innings, which lasted 39 deliveries and contained seven boundaries.

Rashid Khan and Shahbaz Nadeem contributed with 14 and 5 runs respectively. However, it wasn’t enough to help SRH cross the line.

Earlier, some valuable contributions by Ambati Rayudu (41) and Shane Watson (42), followed by a quick and unbeaten 25 from Ravindra Jadeja guided CSK to 167/6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Opting to bat after winning the toss, CSK received the first jolt when opener Faf du Plessis departed without troubling the scorers with the scorecard reading 10/1.

Sam Curran, who was promoted to open the innings with du Plessis, became Sandeep’s second victim after which Watson and Rayudu anchored the CSK innings. The duo was involved in a crucial 81-run stand for the third wicket.

After they departed, Dhoni (21) and Jadeja took CSK beyond the 150-run mark as the three-time champions ended their quota at 167/6 wickets.

For SRH, Sandeep (2/19), Khaleel Ahmed (2/45) and T Natarajan (2/41) picked couple of wickets each.

Brief scores: CSK: 167/6 wkts in 20 overs (Shane Watson 42, Ambati Rayudu 41; Sandeep Sharma 2/19) beat SRH 147/8 wkts (Kane Willaimson 57, Jonny Bairstow 23; Dwayne Bravo 2/25) by 20 runs

With IANS inputs